Nightmares
by celebi4ever
Summary: When an inator malfunctions and Doof is plunged into a never-ending, always-changing nightmare, Perry must delve into Doof's dreams and rescue his nemesis. Finding Doof may be the simpler part of the mission. But getting out is no easy task.
1. The Endless Nightmare-inator

Nightmare

**A/N- This idea has been haunting me for a while. Read, enjoy, review! Did I put those in the right order?**

* * *

Perry had no idea what happened. One moment, he had escaped from another ridiculous trap and pushed the self-destruct button on Doof's new invention. The next, a green ray shot out of the machine prior to exploding and hit Doof in the chest.

Doofenshmirtz was alright, wasn't he? He always was. No matter how many times he got hit with one of his own evil contraptions, fallen from a high place, or blew up along with everything within a hundred feet, he miraculously got away unscathed. Doof bounced back no matter what, ready to spend another day fighting Perry.

But this time, something was terribly wrong. Perry inched closer, trying to examine what kind of damage had been done to the evil scientist's body. The ray had made Doof fall asleep, but there was some kind of pained expression on his face. He twitched a couple times, his limbs moving and jerking as if he couldn't control them.

Perry nervously placed a hand on Doof's chest, softly chattering. Almost immediately, Doof let out a high-pitched scream that sounded like a wild animal's cry of distress. "Please don't… p-p-please!" Doof stuttered, his chest rising and falling erratically.

_Why won't he wake up? Why? _Perry considered calling Major Monogram for help, but quickly remembered that his boss and Carl were on vacation somewhere in the Caribbean. There was no way they could send backup fast enough.

Perry checked the plaque of the destroyed machine, which read "The Endless Nightmare-inator". He couldn't remember exactly who Doof was targeting the Endless Nightmare-inator, due to the fact that he had been panicking so much.

Instead of hitting the self-destruct button on the machine right away, Perry wished he had fought Doof hand-to-hand. Maybe the accident could've been avoided.

"Oh my gosh!" Vanessa, who had been in her room throughout the day, had taken notice of the situation and was now kneeling beside her unconscious father. "Perry, what happened to Dad?"

Perry pointed to the Endless Nightmare-inator. "He got hit by his own inventions again?" Vanessa questioned. Perry nodded. "But why is he acting like he's in pain?" Perry drove her attention to the plaque.

Vanessa put both her hands in front of her mouth, looking like she wanted to scream. "Dad's having endless nightmares! We have to wake him up! This is probably one of the most evil schemes he's come up with, but it backfired on him." Vanessa squeezed Doof's limp hand gently. "I'm guessing we can't just dump a bucket of very cold water on him."

Perry shook his head. The methods classic movies used to wake someone up when they were unconscious wouldn't be an effective tactic in this case.

"Hey Perry! I think I found something!" Vanessa called. The Goth girl stood next to a large garbage can near the balcony. She held up a black and green ray gun and an instruction manual. "These were in the garbage can. Don't ask me why. Anyways, according to the manual, this thing can send a person into somebody's dreams. Think we should try?"

Perry knew what she was getting into. They didn't have any other methods to wake Doof up. He didn't know if going into a person's dreams was dangerous. But it was a risk worth taking. He nodded, preparing himself for what could possibly be the most dangerous mission of his career. This time, the stakes were high.

* * *

**A/N- I hope the "Endless Nightmare-inator" thing isn't overkill. The "endless" part was a last-minute edit I needed for clarification. **


	2. Back in Gimmelschtump

Nightmare Ch 2

**A/N- Man, I loved Sidetracked so much. Such an epic episode. **

* * *

"Are you ready?" Vanessa asked nervously, gripping the ray gun so tightly that Perry was surprised it didn't break into a hundred pieces.

Doof had been moved onto the couch, since his position on the floor couldn't have been very comfortable. The effort to move him had really taxed both Perry and Vanessa's patience because of all the thrashing and screaming he'd been doing. Perry was just glad they didn't have to bring out Norm. He didn't want Doof waking up seeing a huge hole where the closet door had been. That would be disastrous.

"Here goes nothing," Vanessa took several deep breaths, pointing the ray gun at Perry. Perry stood on the arm of the couch and braced himself for the hit. "One," Vanessa had to put both arms on the ray gun to steady her aim. "Two," her finger went to the trigger. "Three!"

Perry felt a warm beam of light hit his entire body. The effect was so disorienting that he blacked out.

* * *

Vanessa let the ray gun clatter to the floor. Perry was gone, a slightly charred spot on the couch left in his place. She hoped he could handle himself inside a nightmare. If Perry was going to help her dad on the inside, she might as well help on the outside. Which meant she wouldn't be going anywhere for a while.

_Which reminds me, _Vanessa pulled out her cell phone and dialed Monty Monogram's number. They had been planning to go see the newest _Stumbleberry Finkbat_ movie together later that evening, but now Vanessa had to cancel the date. Vanessa prayed her dad wouldn't wake up while she was on the phone.

"Hi Monty," Vanessa breathed. "It's me."

"Yeah, I know it's you Vani," she could picture him grinning cockily.

"Don't call me that!" Vanessa blushed. Only Heinz had called her that when she was seven. The nickname irritated her now, and she regretted sharing that with Monty. He seemed to turn it into some sort of pet name. Although she probably would've been more annoyed if he called her "baby" or any of those lovey-dovey names couples used in soap operas. "Listen, I've been looking forward to this date for a while, but I have to cancel. One of Dad's inventions malfunctioned and hurt him pretty bad. I have to take care of him."

"Oh, that's too bad," Monty said sympathetically. "Maybe we can go see _Stumbleberry Finkbat: Guild of the Dragonlords_ some other time."

Vanessa cracked a smile. "You can be such a nerd sometimes."

"I do my best. Bye!" Monty hung up.

Vanessa wondered how long she could keep her relationship with Monty a secret from Heinz. If he found out, then it would be Romeo and Juliet all over again, except without the dying. Then he'd probably ground her for all eternity and come up with an evil scheme to get rid of Monty. _Why is my life so complicated?_ Vanessa shook her head angrily.

She carefully placed a pillow under Doof's head. At least she wasn't completely useless.

* * *

Perry's head ached. He forced himself to sit up, rubbing his forehead to ease the pain. He had expected a foggy landscape, or that he'd be coming across creatures of unimaginable horror. Instead, Perry was in the middle of a village square. People dressed in drab clothes hurried by him, carrying loads of baskets filled to the brim with fruit and vegetables. Men in booths hollered prices of their goods at passersby. Villagers yelled at each other in a mixture of English and a language Perry couldn't make out. Wherever he was, it must have been a market day.

So far, nobody noticed him. As an experiment, Perry walked up to a harsh looking woman and tried to knock the basket she was carrying out of her hands. His hand passed through the basket like mist. She didn't acknowledge Perry even when he jumped and waved his arms directly in her face.

They couldn't see him, proving the ray gun didn't teleport him somewhere else in the world. He was probably in a part of Doof's nightmare influenced by his memories. Perry noticed a sign saying 'WELCOME TO GIMMELSCHTUMP'. Perry realized he was in Doof's hometown. Or homevillage, depending on perspective.

"Mother! Why do I have to carry everything?" a familiar voice squeaked, albeit a little higher pitched.

"Another word out of you Heinz and I will personally feed you to the nearest Goozim," the woman next to him snapped. Perry assumed them to be a young Doof and his mother.

Heinz's face was almost completely covered up by the heaps of baskets in his arms. Heinz was rather short for his age, although to Perry he looked about eight or nine. "Carry these baskets home now and don't disturb your father," Mrs. Doofenshmirtz said sharply. "I have other errands to run."

Heinz teetered on his feet for a few seconds, then turned around and walked away from the village square. Perry followed, keeping a short distance between the two of them.

Heinz mumbled, "I'm not useless. When will people realize that?"

With a pang, Perry remembered all of Doof's traumatizing backstories. Sometimes when Doof told him a backstory, Perry would try to shut him out. It wasn't that he didn't want to listen, but because Perry didn't want to feel all of the emotional pain the backstories caused. One time, Doof had used the emotional pain of his backstories to transform into a giant monster. It was one of the few times Perry had ever really been afraid of Doof.

Heinz opened the door of a large, rundown house, carrying the load of baskets inside. Perry managed to squeeze inside before Heinz shut the door.

"HEINZ DOOFENSHMIRTZ!" a gruff male voice bellowed.

"C-coming Father!" Heinz nearly tripped over his shoelaces and hurried into another room, hastily throwing the bags into the kitchen.

Heinz's father sat in an armchair near a blazing fireplace, a large dog lying at his feet. The dog growled as Heinz approached. Mr. Doofenshmirtz studied his son contemptuously, before saying, "Clean up before dinner."

Heinz nodded meekly. When he turned around, he had a look of relief etched upon his face. The young boy disappeared upstairs.

Perry thought the best thing to do was sit back and wait. Nobody could hurt him. There hadn't been anything yet that was nightmare material, but Perry had a growing fear that he was about to see something that he didn't want to see.

Looking outside the window, Perry saw a hooded figure watching him. His animal instincts told him this wasn't Doof. It was somebody completely different. It was somebody that wanted to get rid of him.

* * *

The figure chuckled. "Soon, Perry the Platypus, you will meet your demise."

* * *

**A/N- So, who is the hooded figure? And hey, where's Doof? **


	3. Danger!

Nightmare Ch 3

**A/N- Yay, spring break is here! Does anybody have an idea of what the second genre should be, if any? I was thinking Horror or Hurt/Comfort but I'd really appreciate an opinion or two here. Please review!  
**

* * *

Perry gulped nervously, watching as the mysterious figure disappeared into thin air. He'd be seeing that person soon. What if that guy got to Doof first and killed him? Then Perry would have gone into the nightmare in vain. Did things in the dream world carry over to real life? If so, then Vanessa would be completely confused and unprepared if she found her dad lying on the couch, not breathing.

He turned his attention to the Doofenshmirtz family, who were spooning portions of an unattractive brown mush for their dinner from a wooden bowl in the center of the table. Heinz was given a cold stare as he was about to take a bite of his food, and the boy silently retreated to a stool with a broken leg in the far corner of the kitchen, taking his dinner with him.

Heinz's parents resumed eating as if nothing had happened. Perry balled his fists. Doof hadn't been exaggerating just how horribly he was treated as a child. Doof wasn't the evil one. His parents were.

With a loud bark, the white dog bounded over to the corner where Heinz was sitting and knocked him to the ground. Then the canine noisily slurped the rest of the contents of the bowl. "Hey, that's mine!" Heinz howled. "Dumb dog!"

"Heinz, upstairs now!" Mrs. Doofenshmirtz yelled. "We will talk about this later!"

"But-" Heinz's feeble protests were drowned out by his father. Mr. Doofenshmirtz let out a string of vulgar names in both English and German. Perry felt like his own anger was reaching a breaking point. It was bad enough to call someone those foul names, but a parent directing the insults at their own child? Perry had no words to describe his outrage.

It broke Perry's heart to see Heinz burst into tears and run away. "He'll never amount to anything," Mr. Doofenshmirtz muttered, petting the dog. "Good Only Son." As Perry passed by the pair, he noticed Only Son giving a small, cruel laugh. It was like Only Son existed to make Heinz more miserable than he already was. Perry was about to give Only Son a good solid punch on the muzzle, but then remembered his fist would go right through the dog's body.

_ You got lucky, mutt_. Perry thought savagely as he made his way up the broken stairs. He followed the sound of uncontrollable sobbing to a door at the end of the hall. Perry felt awkward going through the closed door like he was some ghost from "A Christmas Carol".

Heinz sat on his bed, throwing a ragged tennis ball against the wall. Perry scrambled up onto the bed beside him, curling up on a pillow and watching Heinz with worry. Heinz sighed. "I wish there was some way," he murmured, staring into space with a deadened look in his blue eyes.

The door slammed open, revealing Heinz's mother. In an instant, she loomed over Heinz and Perry, her angry demeanor not changing. Heinz whimpered and buried his head in a pillow, shaking. "Get up," she said sharply. Perry's heart beat rapidly, and he was scared, even though he knew she couldn't hurt him.

Mrs. Doofenshmirtz raised her hand and slapped Heinz across the face. Perry covered his face with his fedora so that he didn't have to see all the child abuse taking place in front of him. Heinz's pitiful wails were enough for him to know just how badly he was being beaten. Eventually the wails subsided, giving way to tiny moans of pain.

Perry couldn't take it anymore. He had to get out of there, and fast. He leapt off the bed and ran to the door, crashing headfirst through the obstacle and taking a tumble down the stairs.

The first thing Perry noticed when he recovered from the fall was that he landed at someone's feet. At first Perry thought it was either Mr. or Mrs. Doofenshmirtz, but neither of them wore a black cloak that covered a person from head to toe.

When Perry looked up, he recognized the hooded figure that he had seen in the window. Instantly, Perry made a run for it, but the person reached down and grabbed Perry's collar, dangling the platypus in the air.

A pair of red eyes glittered with malice. Perry forced himself to glare back. "You will never see your friend or the light of day again. You will suffer greatly for intruding on my turf," Perry fell with a hard thud to the ground. "Farewell." He snapped his fingers, and a dog pack materialized out of the walls of the house. The man disappeared into thin air again.

Perry took this as his chance to run.

* * *

Perry couldn't remember the last time he'd needed to run so fast. The dog pack was right behind him. Fighting eight dogs at once meant certain death, so he decided to flee. Perry wished he hadn't left his jet pack in his lair. It would've been the perfect getaway from the canines.

He tore through the village, hoping he could take shelter in the nearby forest.

Looking behind him, Perry saw one of the dogs breaking away from the pack and gaining on him. Perry tried to pour on the speed, but he was already getting winded. A heavy paw slammed into the side of his face and knocked him off balance.

Perry skidded on the hard cold stones, feeling a dog's sharp teeth sink into his tail. Perry reacted quickly, raking his webbed feet across the dog's nose. The dog howled in pain, letting go of his tail. Two dogs leapt at Perry at the same time, so Perry jumped at the last second and the two dogs clashed heads.

The pack leader approached Perry, growling. He was the largest canine Perry had ever seen. His claws were several inches long, his teeth gleaming like silver daggers, and eyes dark and soulless.

"_I'm surprised you made it this far, little platypus," _the leader snarled, circling Perry. "_Normally our prey would've been devoured within minutes. I like things that put up a fight."_

_ "Let me go, I have to find Doof,"_ Perry growled. "_Who are you anyway?"_

"_Who am I? Who am I?" _the dog threw back his head and howled in laughter. _"My name is Phobos. We exist to paralyze our victims with fear, and eat them when they are most vulnerable. You're a strange one though. Why come into our realm of nightmares of your own free will?"_

_ "Like I said before, I'm here to rescue my nemesis," _Perry said. "_And it looks as though I'd better find him quickly."_

Phobos took a whiff of Perry. _"You have the other one's scent alright."_

_ "You've run into Doof already, haven't you?" _Perry bristled.

_"That is none of your concern,"_ Phobos snarled. _"He's lucky a portal appeared when we were about to eat him. That guy's an idiot. He just jumped into the portal thinking it was a way out of the nightmare. If you're worried, the portal whisked him elsewhere, but he won't wake up until he finds the real exit. Getting back on the real subject, my pack hasn't had real meat in ages." _

The pack regrouped and cornered Perry against a wall. "_You'll be the perfect appetizer for our main course. You're dead meat, platypus." _

Perry suddenly remembered that he could pass through solid objects, and prayed his plan would work. He placed one foot against the wall, allowing it to sink through the solid material. Then he turned around and ran through the wall. He heard Phobos howling in frustration behind him.

Perry sighed in relief. He had gotten away for the time being. He saw a portal near a dented stop sign. Maybe he could use those things to get to Doof. It sounded like a crazy idea, but it was the only plan he could think of. Closing his eyes, he charged straight toward the swirling portal.


End file.
